


I Heard That

by faithharkness



Series: In the Darkness of My Nights [2]
Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: AU-everybody lives, Aftermath of brainwashing, Gen, Snark, implied Poe Dameron/Rey
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-23
Updated: 2016-01-23
Packaged: 2018-05-15 16:16:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 977
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5792275
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/faithharkness/pseuds/faithharkness
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Resistance has been careful about who gets to be in the room with a recovering Ben Solo.  Somehow, Jessika Pava made the cut.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Heard That

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted a kind of outside view of Ben's recovery before he spends time interacting with his parents, Poe and Rey. And I also wanted to lay the groundwork of Leia and Han being sorry Jess and Ben ever became friends.
> 
> This takes place in the same universe as my Diversions series, but it will not be as light-hearted, so I didn't include it in the series. But the rules (Han Lives!) and relationships are the same.

“You again.”

Jessika Pava smirked. “You know, people ask me about this duty and I tell them, ‘Ben Solo? Great big fucking ray of sunshine. Highlight of my day, when I have to escort people to his room and hang out while a bunch of weird Jedi mind wah-wah happens.’”

Ben Solo stared back at her from his seat. One of the medics was checking his wounds, and doing a very bad job of not nattering on about his excitement with being able to see and treat _actual Force lightning wounds_. After one too many not-entirely-necessary pokes, Ben let out a growl.

“You may want to let him be, Nox,” Jess said. “You know how cranky the shrinks get if he’s got all his walls up when they come in. Takes twice as much time to do half as much work.”

“And you’d know all about that, wouldn’t you, Pava?” Nox sneered.

“Leave,” Ben snapped.

Nox pushed the chair he was in backwards, quickly collected his supplies, and fled the room.

“Impressive,” Pava said, settling into a different chair. “I think he peed a little.”

“Why is it always you?”

“I’ll admit, I have taken great joy in terrorizing that pain in the ass, but that was all you this time.”

“No. Why are you always here when they come?” He looked at her uniform. “You’re clearly a pilot, so what is it you’ve done that made them demote you to a glorified babysitter?”

She tilted her head to the side. “Do you know, that’s the most words you've said to me in the time you’ve been with us?”

“I was unconscious for most of the first month.”

“Point.”

“You haven’t answered my question.”

The door opened behind Jessika. 

“I’ll make you a deal: you keep up this new-found loquaciousness with the shrinks and I’ll answer the question after your session,” she said as she stood up.

She nodded to the intelligence expert and psychiatrist as she opened the door for them.

“Damned know-it-all pilots,” he muttered as she stepped across the threshold to take up her guard position.

“I heard that.”  
*****

“I heard you had a good session yesterday,” Jess said as she brought in lunch for Ben.

“You apparently hear many things,” he replied.

“I like to know what’s going on with my people.”

He scoffed. “I am not one of your people.”

She lifted an eyebrow. “You’re the son of the General and my mentor. You’ve given us invaluable intel about the First Order, and you’ve been in a regular room for a month. I think it’s safe to say you’re one of our people.”

“You thought wrong,” he said, picking at his lunch.

Jess shrugged and stole the apple off his tray. She sat down and took a large bite out of it.

“So what did you do?”

“Beg pardon?” Jess asked.

“I’m used to seeing you accompanying the treatment staff. They usually send a droid with my food. If you’ve brought it, logic says you did something you shouldn’t have. Did Nox complain about you?”

She snorted. “The day _Nox’s_ whining gets me in trouble…” she trailed off as she swung her legs up on the low table.

“What did get you in trouble?”

“I may have had a little too much hypervodka and refused to let the Wookiee win.”

Ben stared at her in shock. “How do you still have both arms?”

She grinned around a bite of apple. “I’m very charming.”

Ben snorted.

“Ah, so you _can_ still laugh. Poe and I had a bet going.”

“How is he?”

She dropped her feet to the floor and sat forward. “Better. He still has nightmares, but they aren’t as horrible as they were. Either that, or he’s learned to muffle his cries. Sharing a wall with him was rough for a while there. I think having Rey is helping.”

He nodded, his gaze on his hands.

“I can tell him you asked after him.”

“No. He’ll want to see me and I’m not ready to see anyone else he—I—hurt. Sitting with my parents makes my skin itch.”

She smiled. “Another day, then.”

“I figured that’s why they were sending you in.”

“Because I’ve never been tortured and interrogated by Kylo Ren?”

“Yes,” he bit out.

“Nope,” she said, popping the ‘p’.

He looked confused.

“Come on, you’re supposed to be a bright boy. Shining hope of the Jedi and all that. You haven’t figured it out?”

He growled at her. “Don’t call me that!”

“What? Shiny? Or a Jedi?”

“Either. You don’t know what it’s like!” he said, leaping to his feet.

She leaned back in her chair. “Nope. Not even a little bit.”

He froze, staring at her. She met his gaze and smiled as he sat back down.

“You—” he began.

“Yes. A complete and utter null when it comes to the Force. It’s why they let me come in. I’m the only one they trust who can’t be compelled by the Force. Plus, I’m pretty handy with a blaster.”

He ran his hands over his face. “That’s why Poe hasn’t come to see me. Of _course_ he’s Force-sensitive. All that plentiful Force exposure when he was growing up.”

Jess’s eyes widened. “I’m sorry, I’m going to need a more thorough explanation of ‘plentiful Force exposure’.”

“Didn’t he ever tell you about growing up in the shade of a Force tree?”

She sat forward and folded her hands under her chin. “What would it take to get you to tell me stories of wee Poe and his tree?”

He lifted a brow, mimicking her earlier expression. “I hear the X-wing mechanics have a still.”

“Oh, I can make that happen,” she said, springing to her feet.

Ben smiled as he reached for his sandwich. “Pilots are so easy.”

“I heard that, too,” she called over her shoulder.

**Author's Note:**

> And never fear, a Rey/Poe fic in Diversions will be up this weekend.


End file.
